Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

History is only a compulsory subject in voluntary secondary schools. It is not compulsory in half of the sector. Despite that, 90% of people take up history. The new curriculum will be much more creative in its content and we believe it will attract people to take up history. It will also be more fulfilling in that they will look at history in the context of their own community and it will encourage research and curiosity about that community. We feel it is a very strong curriculum. Broadly, we have introduced limited compulsion into the junior cycle. Only mathematics, Irish and English will be compulsory subjects and this followed wide consultation on the best way to develop a junior cycle programme that developed the talents of people for future needs. That is why more student choice was built into this and less compulsion. We are confident that in the choice of the ten subjects junior cycle students will make, we will see a continuing high take-up of history.

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